Niel Bushnell
Niel Bushnell | |
---|---|
Bushnell in January 2013 | |
Born |
Hartlepool, England | 13 August 1970
Occupation | Novelist, Animator & Artist |
Genre | Fantasy |
Notable works | Sorrowline, Timemsith |
Notable awards |
Northern Promise Award 2011 |
Website | |
www |
Niel Bushnell (born 13 August 1970) is an English writer and artist from Hartlepool. He is the author of the children's fantasy novels Sorrowline and Timesmith, the first two books in The Timesmith Chronicles series, published in the UK by Andersen Press. He is the co-founder of animation studio Qurios Entertainment.
Life and career
Niel Bushnell was born in Hartlepool, England. Bushnell collaborated with school friend, Gordon Fraser, to create the newspaper comic strip, The Funny Farm, later retitled Farmageddon. The strip ran for 18 months in the Hartlepool Mail. Later Bushnell developed Farmageddon as an animated project.[1]
Animation
Since 1994 Bushnell has worked as an animator. His credits include a variety of roles on feature films including Space Jam, Lost In Space and Felidae. [2][3]
In 2002 Bushnell and his wife, Diane, established their own animation studio, Qurios Entertainment, in their home town of Hartlepool.[4] As well as producing animation for commercials Qurios has a string of TV credits, including Hyperdrive, Spooks, Tracy Beaker Returns and The Dumping Ground.[5] Qurios later merged with Dene Films, a Newcastle upon Tyne based live action production company where Bushnell was Animation Director until 2013.[6][7]
In February 2013 it was announced that Bushnell would be Co-Producer of two animated episodes of the Doctor Who story, The Ice Warriors, which was subsequently released on DVD in August 2013.[8][9]
Writing
Having written all his life Bushnell began work in 2009 on what became his first novel, Sorrowline.[10] Bushnell submitted the first 30 pages of Sorrowline into the 2011 Northern Writers Awards, an annual event organised New Writing North, a development agency for creative writing and creative reading based in the north east of England.[11] Bushnell received a Northern Promise Award and Sorrowline was quickly picked up for publication by Andersen Press in the United Kingdom, Heyne in Germany and by Pensamento-Cultrix in Brazil.[12][13]
In January 2014 it was announced that Sorrowline was one of twenty nine début novels for children long-listed for the Brandford Boase Award 2014.[14]
In December 2015 Bushnell, along with Michael Chaplin (writer) and Ian McMillan (poet), was appointed to the Board of trustees of New Writing North.[15][16]
Works
The Timesmith Chronicles
- Sorrowline (2013)
- Timesmith (2014)
Short Stories
- Scissors (2015) Commissioned by the National Literacy Trust [17]
References
- ↑ "The Journal acticle: Farmageddon is aimed at Cannes".
- ↑ "The Journal Newspaper article - Qurios - and yet so very animated".
- ↑ "Internet Movie Database listing".
- ↑ "Evening Gazette article - Film talent comes home to the Tees".
- ↑ "Hartlepool Mail article - Boldly going into the future".
- ↑ "The Journal Newspaper article - Dene Group on a roll with £800,000 funding".
- ↑ "Hartlepool Mail article - Hi-tech firm quits town".
- ↑ "Doctor Who TV - The Ice Warriors animated for DVD – exclusive first look".
- ↑ "Radio Times - The Ice Warriors - lost episodes to be animated for DVD".
- ↑ "Hartlepool Mail - Niel’s adventure into writing".
- ↑ "New Writing North website".
- ↑ "The Bookseller - Andersen snaps up Sorrowline".
- ↑ "Booktrade info - Andersen Press Have Bought Rights In Two Children's Novels, Sorrowline And Timesmith, By Debut Writer Niel Bushnell".
- ↑ "Branford Boase Award 2014 longlist".
- ↑ "David Roche appointed chair of New Writing North".
- ↑ "New Writing North: Board of trustees".
- ↑ "National Literacy Trust Premier League Reading Stars Programme resources".
External links
- NielBushnell.com Official site
- Niel Bushnell at the Internet Speculative Fiction Database
- Niel Bushnell at the Internet Movie Database
- Niel Bushnell at Andersen Press
- Niel Bushnell at Amazon.co.uk